


Back To The Start - Or Almost

by orphan_account



Series: Tumblr Prompts [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Mild Angst, Prompt filling, Romance, Tumblr Prompt, one-sided romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 01:39:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh my god, thank you!”</p><p>The relief in Stiles’ voice was so painfully strong, so vibrant. So when arms tightly wrapped her up in a hug, Cora froze on spot, not knowing how to react. Derek had sent her to Stiles’ because he didn’t want to come to the pack meeting. And Derek, like a pouting kid, had refused to go see what was going on. Because Derek could be so stubborn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back To The Start - Or Almost

**Author's Note:**

> Anon on tumblr prompted me Cora having a crush on Stiles and telling it to Derek who happens to be dating Stiles. He doesn't know how to tell her and she eventually ends up finding out the truth. It was a real challenge for me, so I hope you'll enjoy your reading.

“Oh my god, thank you!”

The relief in Stiles’ voice was so painfully strong, so vibrant. So when arms tightly wrapped her up in a hug, Cora froze on spot, not knowing how to react. Derek had sent her to Stiles’ because he didn’t want to come to the pack meeting. And Derek, like a pouting kid, had refused to go see what was going on. Because Derek could be so stubborn.

She awkwardly patted his back and pulled away, a furtive confused frown passing on her forehead. She didn’t understand why this tiny and empty sample bottle of a perfume mattered so much to him.

“You’re welcome, I guess” Cora said.

She studied how he carefully took the minuscule bottle, as if he could die if the bottle broke. Cora could hear clearly how his heartbeat was returning to a more normal rhythm, how his shoulders were less tensed. She watched as Stiles wrapped it carefully in a handkerchief before putting the whole thing in his backpack.

“I can’t go to school without her” Stiles said as she looked at the state of the boy’s room, a state messier than usual. A messier state she helped with in the first place by giving him a hand to turn his bedroom upside down.

Cora didn’t understand immediately what he meant. But after seeing him shifting uncomfortably, hand scratching the back of his neck, she realized. And she understood why he thanked her so vigorously.

“Now, let’s go, I don’t want to end up on your brother’s menu”

She understood that beaming smile and it felt natural, so familiar even, to return him this smile. She even chuckled at this stupid joke.

The drive to Derek’s loft was silent but comfortable. Cora could sometimes feel Stiles’ gaze checking on her before focusing back on the road. It felt good and somehow, normal.

The meeting was like any other pack meeting: Derek trying to make decisions, Scott disagreeing, Isaac earning himself weird looks for making weirder or smarter suggestions, Stiles sassing Derek just for the fun of it, Cora not saying much as she wasn’t that much used to have a pack not entirely made of wolves; and Peter watching all of this from the staircase.

“Shame I don’t have any popcorn left” he said, standing up to leave the assembly after an hour of debating on whether they should kill or not the golem’s master.

Everyone agreed that they would make a choice if by any chance they happened to put their hands on the goddamn master in question.  And everyone left the loft, one after each other, picking up their stuff.

Cora walked Stiles to the sliding door, almost shoulder to shoulder. It should’ve felt foreign, but it didn’t. Not in the slightest way. They were now standing on each side of the rail, Stiles’ profile showing this line of moles, hand scratching the back of his neck again.

“I’d like to thank you again, but just saying it isn’t enough” he said, gaze locked on his sneakers.

“It’s fine” Cora shrugged.

If Stiles had werewolf senses, he’d have heard this slight blip in Cora’s heartbeat. But he didn’t.

“It’s not much but… what do you think about a movie? Popcorn, in a theater and all? Sounds good?” he offered, Stiles’ shoulders waving as the idea suddenly hit his brain, words spilling out even before thinking.

Cora pushed a lock of hair behind her ear then punched him in the shoulder.

“Sounds good to me” she said with a small smile.

She punched him again, lightly this time.

“And if you don’t stop throwing sarcasms all the time, you’ll sound good enough to be on Derek’s menu” she added, pushing the door.

The loud sliding of metal against metal and cement hid her that sudden rush in Stiles’ heartbeat, the same way she didn’t see him blush.

* * *

“What now?”

Cora’s voice barely hid the irritation she’d been feeling since the past hour. Derek had been eyeing her from the table where he was trying to hide – unsuccessfully – behind a pile of old books borrowed to Deaton.

“Nothing”

Cora rolled her eyes, sighed heavily. She got up from the couch, dropping notebook and pen on the coffee table. Cora snapped the book out of her older brother’s hands and slammed her palms on the wood.

“Derek.”

Her brother sighed, well, it sounded more like a growl. Resigned but sill a growl.

“You get out a lot lately” he vaguely said.

Cora arched a brow.

“Outside from patrolling” Derek pointed out, lips thin.

“Oh, you mean with Stiles”

Derek’s scowl, which was previously quite dark, got even darker if possible. Cora knew that she wouldn’t be able to avoid that discussion forever. And Derek was her older brother, he was only doing his job, she couldn’t blame him for that even if she wished he weren’t so old fashioned sometimes.

The cinema night had been great, two or three weeks ago, she got to choose the movie and after it, they bought the giant sized popcorn for a contest – it was Stiles’ idea in the first place – to see who could eat the whole box faster. Cora had first said no, waving a silly hand at him.

“If you win, next time we go out, you show me your favorite place”

Cora had turned back, rose up high a brow in a well-that-is-becoming-interesting way and five minutes, twenty-two seconds later, she was smiling victoriously at a very hamster-like Stiles who hadn’t even reached the first third of his popcorn box.

Outside school and the patrolling, Cora had spent few but very enjoyable moments with Stiles. As promised she took him to her favorite place in Beacon Hills which happened to be a small cabin in a tree on the old Hale property. It was well hidden between the trees, far from the remnants of the burnt house and she remembered the stunned face Stiles had made while discovering the place. Incredibly dusty, it also smelled strongly of damp and earth, dead leaves layers carpeting the floor. Cora even showed Stiles the light well, something built in the roof of the cabin because Laura loved stars.

“Mum’s perfume is called Stars” simply stated Stiles, foot playing with the leaves.

Cora didn’t tell him much, except that she liked to spend afternoon reading here and Isaac texted them just right after that and they went back to patrolling.

There was also this time when they both got in detention for bickering in chemistry class; they had to spend it in the library for exactly two hours. Not even within five minutes in the library they were having this childish paper bullets war between the shelving instead of actually putting the books back where they belonged.

Derek’s insistent and piercing gaze brought Cora back to reality. She sighed, knowing what was coming, but still sat down, ready to listen. But nothing came, his brother only remained silent.

“What?” Cora said in a flat tone. “You want me to do all the talking? Fine.”

Derek looked a bit surprised at this but still didn’t say anything.

“I think I like him” Cora said bluntly. It was a thing she shared with Derek sometimes, they couldn’t be subtle. And why beat around the bush unnecessarily, anyway.

In front of her, Derek blemished then his scowl got so dark she couldn’t even distinguish his eye color anymore. She could hear perfectly fine his heart racing as he abruptly got up, chair rattling loudly in the silent room, to pace back and forth in front of the window.

He seemed angry, Cora could tell it, but she couldn’t tell why. And Derek’s reaction was a bit too exaggerated, wasn’t it. She just liked a boy; it wasn’t the end of the world. She didn’t understand why he looked so angry, why he was positively fuming. And the fact that she didn’t understand made Cora angry; angry with Derek for his incomprehensible reaction, angry with Stiles and she didn’t even knew why, angry with herself.

Cora got up too, turned around the table to try and face Derek.

“What’s wrong?!”

Derek’s jaw tightened, hands fisting at his sides.

“It’s not good for you” he said, voice raw with anger and something else, something she couldn’t identify.

“Why? You think I can’t decide what’s good for myself?” Cora spat, her ponytail waving as she took a step forward.

All she could hear was her own heartbeat, filled with anger, and Derek’s bumping so loudly with anger too.

“I’m trying to protect you!” Derek yelled, hands gripping her shoulders.

And it was true; she didn’t even need to listen to her brother’s loud heartbeat to realize that it was true. It was painted all over Derek’s face, in subtle shades because that’s how he was; the way his eyes were locked to hers to make her understand, the way his brows creased and created wrinkles around his eyes, the way his lips twitched as if words of worry and love were there but unspeakable, like a foreign language he had yet to learn.

Cora shook herself off of his grip, glaring daggers at him. She wasn’t used to someone caring for her like that. Not since the vault.

“I can very much take care of myself, thank you” she snarled, turning back to pack her school stuff left on the sofa and the coffee table.

The door slid as loudly as usual and Cora threw her backpack over her shoulder.

“Pizza anyone?” offered Isaac, holding a pile of pizza boxes with one hand, smiling.

“Not hungry” growled Cora, ponytail waving behind her as she walked past a surprised Scott, two bike helmets in his hands.

Isaac and Scott looked at each other before strutting down the few steps inside Derek’s loft. They both shrugged as the displayed the different boxes on the coffee table.

“Hales” whispered Scott and Isaac shrugged again before giving an approving nod.

* * *

Her phone was buzzing for the umpteenth time but Cora didn’t answer it. She needed to be alone for a while.

When she got back to the loft, Derek was still standing in front of the window and Stiles’ faint scent lingered in the vast room. Sun was rising, but Cora didn’t go to school that day.

* * *

Stiles and Cora carried on hanging out from time to time, sometimes alone, sometimes with other members of the pack, generally Scott or Lydia. Bowling, movies, lacrosse practice, everything was a good pretext to see, talk or walk with Stiles.

Outside his tendency to get in troubles more often than all Greek heroes combined, she found him funny. She liked his sarcasms. Yes, Cora definitely liked Stiles. But between school, a brother she had to rediscover and reconstruct everything with, avoiding being killed by rival packs and hunting various creatures, Cora wondered if she wanted their relationship to be more than that. A part of her screamed, yelled from every cell _yes!_ but the other part felt it comforting to have Stiles this way, to have him anchoring her.

Cora was in the cabin, looking at the sky shades varying softly. She had made her decision: she’d tell Stiles how she felt about him and then come what may. She grabbed her phone.

_Need to talk to you. Important._

And then she waited. Usually Stiles was fast to answer. Fifteen minutes later, her phone finally dared to chime.

_Busy right now. Important too. Let’s meet later._

Cora sagged back onto the leaves, sigh huffing so loud out of her lungs that she could’ve been a balloon deflating. It couldn’t wait. Ruffling the leaves out of her hair, Cora stood up and jumped out of the cabin.

* * *

Cora froze even before reaching the sliding door – which happened to be opened for an unknown reason; Derek preferred to know it closed – voices shouting.

“You have to stop _seeing_ her!”

Something crashed on a wall or on the floor, probably a mug.

“Derek, _I don’t see_ Cora. I’m hanging out with her just like I hang out with Scott or Allison.”

Cora felt something panging hard in her chest, catching it and holding it.

“But it’s misleading her!” Derek barked, anger and guilt mixing in his voice that made it shake. “I don’t want her to be hurt!”

Electric silence filled the air for a moment, ragged breaths and sighs was all she could hear. Cora slowly made it to the door. Derek and Stiles were just silhouettes standing out against the city lights.

They were standing quite apart, Stiles’ back to Derek who had his face buried in one hand. The thought briefly crossed Cora’s mind of how long they would take to notice her presence. Or more likely, how long it’d take for Derek to notice her.

“She spoke to you first, Derek” and Stiles’ tone was irritated. “If it weren’t for you, I still wouldn’t have a clue she’s got a crush on me”

Derek snapped his face up, so fast that a human could’ve broken their neck.

“So it’s my fault now?! Huh, it’s my fault?”

Cora wondered if she hadn’t been magically made invisible for she was so close and her heartbeat so fucking loud and erratic that Derek should’ve spotted her by now.

She saw Stiles finally turn around, walking up to her brother, hands delicately framing his face.

“I never said that, Derek. Nor did I imply it”

Cora closed her eyes, tears burning under her eyelids. Stiles’ voice sounded so tender.

“I just think it’d be better if you told her. She confined into you first, means she trusts you, right”

When Cora opened her eyes, she saw them, Stiles’ hands still on her brother’s face, the contact seemingly soothing him. But Derek closed his eyes, lips becoming a thin line and he gripped tightly Stiles’ wrists. Cora’s jaw tightened as Derek exhaled a shuddering breath.

“She’ll be hurt, whether we want it or not” cut Stiles before he could add anything.

Cora felt empty and angry at the same time. She didn’t know if she should run away or not. Stiles walked to the coffee table.

“I’m gonna tell her to come” he said, reaching out for his phone.

The door sliding made Stiles jump but not Derek who stared Cora in the eye for a moment before heading to sit on the couch.

“Guess it’ll save us some time” Cora said, voice raw, from anger or from sadness she couldn’t tell.

* * *

Cora picked up her fork and turned it between her fingers. She liked the view; she understood why he liked to sit there and also why he wanted more people around.

“Is this sit taken?”

“Nope” Cora answered, taking her backpack out of the seat to let Scott sit down beside her.

Allison soon followed, sitting in front of Cora, babbling clothes with Lydia who sat next to the huntress. For a moment, the atmosphere froze as Stiles appeared next to Lydia. Cora’s heart fluttered, then she nodded and Stiles carefully sat down with them.

“So, heard you failed chemistry again?” Cora asked teasingly, putting a carrot in her mouth.

Stiles hesitated, and then made one of his usual whining faces, shoulders sagging.

“That new teacher hates me, I swear. Or it’s chemistry. Probably both actually”

Lydia rolled her eyes, Allison and Scott exchanged laughs and Isaac joined them few minutes later, complaining that there was no meat left.

When she climbed in the passenger’s seat of the Toyota, Cora heard Derek mumbling; awkwardly asking her how was her day.

“Fine, Stiles has still issues with chemistry it seems”

From behind his sunglasses, Derek looked at her in surprise. Then, as usual, he didn’t ask for more explanation, he just got along. Cora had made her decision. They were in love and she couldn’t do anything about it.

They both broke the trust she had in them, even if they didn’t intend to in the first place. And Cora would make sure they would earn it back, by working hard. As the trees blurred behind the window, Cora thought that she was back to the start, or almost. And despite the heartbreak, despite all the negative things in their lives, in her life, it made her smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading till down there. As I said, it was a challenge for me because first we didn't have much on Cora from s3A and secondly and most importantly, I didn't want to end up in character bashing. I don't know if I did it well, I can only hope so. So really, any feedback on this prompt filling would be very lovely of you.


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